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Byhalia falls in first district game By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor  | 
| Photos by Barry Burleson
Byhalia runners
Indians Pat Malone (5, top photo) and Andrey Collins (4, bottom photo) carry the ball versus Senatobia Friday night at home. |
It was Indians versus Warriors Friday night in Byhalia’s first district game of the 2010 season. Byhalia
was at home after coming off a road loss to across-the-border nemesis,
Westwood (Tenn.). The Indians were entering with a 3-1 mark and the
Senatobia Warriors had a 2-2 record. Byhalia
received to start the game and Patrick Malone caught it and ran it to
the 43 of the Warriors. Markez Saulsbury was the starting gunslinger
for Byhalia and there was a little confusion in the backfield which
affected the timing and the ball was picked by Senatobia. The visitors
made a good gain off of the interception but were set back 20 yards by
consecutive penalties. Tyler Pirtle was taking snaps for Senatobia,
flanked by two wing backs. Warriors went out on downs while trying a
desperation pass on a fourth and 17. Saulsbury
was operating from the shotgun. There was a fumble recovered by the
Indians but it left a big hole which forced them to punt from about
their 10-yard line. The punt was a good one, traveling to the Warrior
23. Senatobia picked up a first down, then
Pirtle, after faking a smooth hand off to a wingback, blazed down the
left side, outran everyone and went in standing up. They booted the
extra point and had a 7-0 lead. The Indians had
an injury timeout when a man went down. They could not turn a first and
Saulsbury punted away. Senatobia received the ball and began mixing
their plays to their advantage. The visitors had a first down called
back on an illegal procedure, which was followed by an illegal “block
in the back.” That brought up a third and 23 which the visitors
couldn’t negotiate. Byhalia completed two passes
to Malone, but had to punt. Byhalia was getting off good kicks with the
latest going to the 24. The Indians rushed the Warriors and pinned them
without a gain, but Senatobia also launched a long punt. Byhalia
moved the chains on a straight buck up the middle by Terence Phinisee
but the quarter expired with the Indians over the ball on a third and 5
just inside Warrior territory and trailing 7-0. The
Indians had a bad snap on the fourth down and the punter had to recover
and try to run the ball out. A flag was thrown against the Indian
offense and the Warriors took over on downs. They immediately used the
option play to walk in for another six. It was 14-0 after the kick. After
the ground crew brought the chains out, Devonte Norman made up the
inches by bursting through for a long run and a first. Andrey Collins
backed him up with another first to the 15. Collins got the call again
and this time broke it for a score. The extra-point try failed but the
Indians had broken the scoring drought and were 14-6 with 5:40 left in
the half. The Warriors were keeping the ball on
the ground and steadily marching to field goal range. With 2:45 left,
Pirtle pulled off a textbook fake, kept and ran in for his second
touchdown. The kick was good and it was 21-6. The
Indians fumbled on their possession and Pirtle threw a long pass to the
left endzone. There was a defending Indian in the area but the pigskin
was hauled in by Quin Burdette. The extra-point try was no good, and
the score was 27-6. That was the halftime score when Byhalia couldn’t
turn successive first downs. The third quarter
was pretty much a stalemate. The Indians were putting up a good defense
and their offense was also getting notice. Norman broke a long one for
a score but had it called back on a holding penalty. Malone was taking
direct snaps with good results until the ball was lost on a fumble. Pirtle
was using the option to Burdette with optimum effect. Byhalia dodged a
bullet when a touchdown run by Pirtle was negated by an infraction. The
Warriors were set back but still scored on the next play. They went up
34-6. With about 1:39 left, Malone came out of
the backfield and carried the mail to paydirt. The Indians failed to
convert and the score was 34-12 when the third ended. Play resumed after the change of direction and the Indian defense was still hanging tough. Norman
later took a handoff from Malone, broke two tackles and won the foot
race to add six more. There was no extra point, but the deficit was cut
to 16 at 34-18. The Indians made a successful onside kick; however,
they suffered a big penalty and faced a fourth and 20. They went for it
but the intended receiver dropped the ball. That
left the Warriors in good field position and they were still using
Burdette as the work horse. It didn’t take long to score. Their kick
went wide but they had added six more for a 40-18 mark. The
Indians scored once more on a quarterback sneak but failed in the try
for two. The clock ran down as the Warriors were approaching the Indian
red zone. The final score was 40-24. “We played
poorly the first half,” coach Markeith Washington said. “In the second
half, we turned it on offensively. We had a horrible night defensively.” Norman
carried 13 times for 156 yards and Collins eight times for 54 yards.
Collins also had four kickoff returns for 50 yards. Malone carried
seven times for 107 yards, caught seven passes for 85 yards and
returned two kickoffs for 56 yards. Cordell
Anderson led the defense with 12 tackles, while DeAndre Buchanan had
10, and Reginald Richmond has seven tackles and a sack. The
Indians have a date with the undefeated Commodores of Lafayette this
Friday in Oxford, another district foe. The Indians are now 3-2, 0-1 on
the season. |
